For many years, print media provided the only way to transmit information and ideas in a fixed form. With the advent of photography and audio recording, additional media have become available for transmitting information and ideas. Moreover, with the widespread use of the Internet, it has become possible to distribute large, coherent units of media, such as books, using electronic technologies. The information in such media, however, is static. That is, updated information is provided only by preparing and distributing additional media. However, widespread distribution of updated information, including comments, supplements, features, thoughts, insights, etc., becomes difficult when the information is authored by multiple parties. Media consumers having additional information or insight typically do not have a way to effectively share that information with other consumers. What is needed is a method and system that allows users of media to easily annotate the media and afterward distribute such annotations to others in an economical and efficient manner.
Another problem that arises with electronic media is that display conditions (e.g., screen size, font type or size, screen resolution, margins, line spacing, etc.) affect the amount of content that can be displayed on a given display screen. Electronic media is typically structured as virtual frames presented on a display device, and a user may turn or change from one virtual frame or “page” of electronic content to another. The term “page” as used herein refers to a collection of content that is presented at one time on a display. Thus, “pages” as described herein are not fixed permanently, and may be redefined or repaginated based on variances in display conditions, such as screen size, font type or size, margins, line spacing, resolution, or the like. Accordingly, it may be difficult or impossible for a user reading electronic media on one display device to meaningfully communicate a page cite or annotation to a reader of the same electronic media on another display device, because one or more of the foregoing display conditions may be different.